Every person has a different bucket list — things they dream of doing someday, whether big or small. One item on Cindy Karrels’s bucket list was to enter a Wisconsin State Fair competition. The annual tradition is a chance for local bakers and canners, cheese makers and sausage makers to show off their best.
Candy makers, too. But Cindy started thinking about competing even before she became a chocolatier. It was 2008, after she had lost her job as a Midwest flight attendant. “I was bored and decided to enter my apple pie in our hometown baking contest,” Cindy says. “I won first place! The judge at the event said I should enter the Wisconsin State Fair.”
In the years that followed, Cindy became busy with other things as she fell in love with chocolate, became a chocolatier, and opened Fazio’s Sweet Moments Sweet Life with her husband, Mark. But she never quite forgot about the State Fair. Last year, she signed up for information and learned about the Eats & Treats competition, the Fair’s professional food competition for small-business food producers. “We decided to go for it.”
Cindy entered on behalf of Fazio’s and, just like that apple pie 16 years earlier, the first time was a charm. Fazio’s not only won first place in the Sweet Treats category, it was also named Best of Show.
“When I first thought about entering the State Fair competition, I never thought I'd be entering as a business. It's funny how things work out,” Cindy says. “It was like a bucket list item and a dream come true all in one.”
The winning entry was Decade of Decadence, which Cindy created to commemorate Fazio’s 10-year business anniversary. It’s a dark chocolate praline crunch layered with berry marmalade and cheesecake, all in a dark chocolate shell. Introduced to the Fazio’s holiday collection last fall, it’s available for sale year-round and as part of the holiday collection, as well.